Custody transfer for hydrocarbons (e.g., natural gas) occurs on an almost continuous basis (e.g., custody transfer between a natural gas producer and a natural gas distributor). However, billing for hydrocarbons in most cases takes place on a periodic basis, such as bi-weekly or monthly. In the span of time between billing cycles, an accumulated flow volume is maintained and incremented, in some cases by way of a flow computer coupled to one or more metering tubes through which the hydrocarbons flow.
Prior to billing for the sale of the hydrocarbons, the accumulated flow volume is transferred to a computer system, such as a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The SCADA system performs various checks on the accumulated flow volume using raw and/or uncorrected values of pressure, differential-pressure and temperature associated with measuring hydrocarbon flow. These “checks” are referred to in the industry as performing “validations.” There may be many validations performed by the SCADA system, but in the related-art the validations are performed for the data over the entire billing cycle (e.g., a month of data), just before the next billing. Thus, if errors arise in the data just after the beginning of a billing cycle, an entire billing cycle worth of data may be corrupted.